oilspill09_0318_mac.jpg Workers with the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands are out walking Rodeo Beach collecting shorebirds affected by the oil spill on behalf of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing and cleaning up the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0318_mac.jpg Workers with the Marine Mammal Center in...

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oilspill09_0328_mac.jpg Heather Harris,(left) and Erin Brodie are with the Marine Mammal Center, collecting shorebirds along Rodeo Beach on behalf of Oiled Wildlife Care Network who will clean the oil soaked birds. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing and cleaning up the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0328_mac.jpg Heather Harris,(left) and Erin Brodie are...

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oilspill09_0351_mac.jpg Clean up crew with NRC Environmental Services begin to bag the globs of oil washing up onshore at Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing and cleaning up the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, CA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0351_mac.jpg Clean up crew with NRC Environmental...

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oilspill09_0316_mac.jpg An oil soaked bird floats dead in the marina at Fort Baker. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing and cleaning up the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0316_mac.jpg An oil soaked bird floats dead in the...

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oilspill09_0354_mac.jpg Clean up crew with NRC Environmental Services begin to bag the globs of oil washing up onshore at Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing and cleaning up the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, CA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0354_mac.jpg Clean up crew with NRC Environmental...

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Wildlife veterinarian Kirsten Gilardi (left) and wildlife rehabilitator January Bill from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network examine an oil-coated surf scoter, found near 47th Avenue, that was injured from an oil spill in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007 after a container ship's hull was breached when it collided with a tower of the Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons into the bay Wednesday. PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**Kirsten Gilardi, January Bill

Photo: PAUL CHINN

Wildlife veterinarian Kirsten Gilardi (left) and wildlife...

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Wildlife rehabilitator January Bill (left) and wildlife veterinarian Kirsten Gilardi from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network feed nutrients to an oil-coated surf scoter, found near 47th Avenue, that was injured from an oil spill in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007 after a container ship's hull was breached when it collided with a tower of the Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons into the bay Wednesday. PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**Kirsten Gilardi, January Bill

Photo: PAUL CHINN

Wildlife rehabilitator January Bill (left) and wildlife...

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A crew from NRC Environmental Services cleans oil off the beach at Aquatic Park after an oil spill. Photographed in San Francisco on 11/8/07. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

oilspill_012_df.jpg
A crew from NRC Environmental Services cleans...

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A crew from NRC Environmental Services cleans oil off the beach at Aquatic Park after an oil spill. Photographed in San Francisco on 11/8/07. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

oilspill_037_df.jpg
A crew from NRC Environmental Services cleans...

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oilspill09_0262_mac.jpg January Bill with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network handles an oil soaked Surf Scoter. The birds they have collected today, will be transported for cleaning. Rodeo Beach in the Marine Headlands. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0262_mac.jpg January Bill with the Oiled Wildlife Care...

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oilspill09_0250_mac.jpg January Bill with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network handles an oil soaked Surf Scoter. The bird will be transported for cleaning. Rodeo Beach in the Marine Headlands. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0250_mac.jpg January Bill with the Oiled Wildlife Care...

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oilspill09_0037_mac.jpg Meghan McNertney of Larkspur tends to a Surf Scoter, a duck that lives in the surf, she rescued from the shore of Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, covered in oil that spilled from the damaged container ship in SF Bay. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0037_mac.jpg Meghan McNertney of Larkspur tends to a...

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oilspill09_0107_mac.jpg A Surf Scoter, a duck that lives in the surf, flaps it's wings, trapped on the shore of Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, covered in oil that spilled from the damaged container ship in SF Bay. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0107_mac.jpg A Surf Scoter, a duck that lives in the...

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oilspill09_0120_mac.jpg Meghan McNertney of Larkspur, rescues a Surf Scoter, a duck that lives in the surf, from the shore of oil covered Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, covered in oil that spilled from the damaged container ship in SF Bay. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0120_mac.jpg Meghan McNertney of Larkspur, rescues a...

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oilspill09_0161_mac.jpg Meghan McNertney of Larkspur tends to a Surf Scoter, a duck that lives in the surf, she rescued from the shore of Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, covered in oil that spilled from the damaged container ship in SF Bay. After the collision of the Cosco Busan container ship with a tower footing of the Bay Bridge yesterday morning , clean up crews begins the work of containing the spilled oil as it reaches nearby San Francisco Bay beaches. photog} / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, GA, USA

Photo: Michael Macor

oilspill09_0161_mac.jpg Meghan McNertney of Larkspur tends to a...

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Wildlife covered in oil at Fort Baker cove in Sausalito from yesterday 11/7 accident at the Bay Bridge.
11/8/07
{Photographed by }

Photo: Frederic Larson

Wildlife covered in oil at Fort Baker cove in Sausalito from...

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Wildlife covered in oil at Fort Baker cove in Sausalito from yesterday 11/7 accident at the Bay Bridge.
11/8/07
{Photographed by }

The black oil spreading for miles from the Golden Gate is staining one of the richest wildlife regions on the Pacific Coast and threatening hundreds of thousands of birds as well as marine mammals and fish that feed around San Francisco Bay.

Fuel oil, lighter than crude but heavier than gasoline, can kill birds, fish and other creatures. The 58,000-gallon spill into the delicate mouth of the bay comes at an unfortunate time for migratory birds, such as the 150,000 ducks that have just flown 2,000 miles from Canada's boreal forest to feed over the winter in the bay ecosystem, bird biologists said Thursday.

Dozens of dead and injured birds already have been found around the region, and hundreds more are likely to be spotted before the oil slick is mopped up, officials said.

By late afternoon Thursday, the oil had hit the Farallon Islands, and researchers spotted 20 oiled common murres. At nesting time, in late winter, the Farallones are home to 200,000 common murres, the largest colony south of Alaska, and the seabirds already are starting to arrive.

Oil washing up on the beaches in San Francisco, Berkeley, Albany, Novato and along the Pacific coast is covering prime feeding grounds for the dozens of species of shorebirds that forage on the edges of the bay. The disaster will remain a deadly threat for months and perhaps years to come, biologists said.

Fish will die if they eat the oil in the water or it gets in their gills, said biologists with state Fish and Game Department.

Harbor seals that come ashore at Point Bonita near the lighthouse under the bridge also are vulnerable to oil, as are Dahl's porpoises and harbor porpoises swimming off Rodeo Beach on the Marin Headlands. Also in danger are California sea lions that could swim through the oil to get to Pier 39, according to the Marine Mammal Center. Furry mammals are particularly vulnerable to spills because the oil interferes with their ability to keep warm. Ingesting the oil and breathing the fumes also can sicken them, particularly the pups.

"It's horrible," said Dr. Frances Gulland, a veterinarian at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito who could see the oil washing up Thursday morning on Rodeo Beach. She worries about the immediate and long-term injury to the animals.

"It is shocking that it can happen in the bay under our very eyes," Gulland said.

Off the bay lies an area of almost 6,000 square miles protected as three federal marine sanctuaries - Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay. The sanctuaries are home to 36 species of marine mammals, 163 species of birds and five species of sea turtles.

By evening, at least three dozen oiled and dead birds had been picked up at Rodeo, Ocean and Stinson beaches, the Berkeley Marina and other beaches.

Injured birds can die quickly. The oil coats feathers that keep birds warm, causing them to get cold in the chilly bay water. When the birds get out of the water, they stop feeding even though they need a constant supply of food to keep up with their high metabolism. If they preen their feathers, the oil can poison them, said Dr. Mike Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. The program, at UC Davis, organizes the wildlife aid response for the state Department of Fish and Game.

Most of the birds found Thursday were surf scoters, a species of diving duck. Around 80,000 of the ducks arrive in the Bay Area every year by November, a majority of those wintering on the Pacific Flyway, an ocean feeding stop. About 80,000 greater and lesser scaups, two other species of diving ducks, also fly here to feed from Canada, arriving at the lowest weight of their life cycle.

"They come here from the pristine boreal forests down to the San Francisco Bay, an incredibly rich marine ecosystem that supports globally important populations of ducks and shorebirds," said Jeff Wells, a biologist with the Boreal Songbird Initiative, a Seattle nonprofit.

"They arrive after a journey of thousands of miles after making it through the Canada frost, passing through British Columbia mountains and then down the entire Pacific Coast from Washington expecting a safe place full of food and spend the winter," he said.

"Then they're fouled by oil and may die on the shores because they can't stay warm and get the oil off their feathers," Wells said.

Hundreds of reports of oiled birds from beaches ringing the bay and coast came into the hot line operated by the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. So many residents used the line to offer volunteer assistance that the network was temporarily shut down in midafternoon.

On Thursday morning, Josiah Clark, a consulting ecologist conducting a preliminary shorebird survey, saw two oiled ducks, a greater scaup and a northern shoveler as far north as Novato.

Jay Holcomb, who leads the bird rehabilitation center in Fairfield, said his group went out Wednesday afternoon after it got the first report of a spill.

"When we got between the Golden Gate and the lighthouse at Point Bonita under the north end of the bridge, we saw a lot of oil in the water. We didn't expect that much oil from what had been reported. And then we knew we were going to see a lot of oiled birds," Holcomb said.